Gates McFadden is most readily identified through her affiliation to the Star Trek franchise—she has played Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation on the screens, big and small, since 1987. Before joining the cast of Trek, however, McFadden was a successful character actress on stage and screen. She appeared in the New York productions of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, How to Say Goodbye, Cloud 9, and Viva Detroit. She had a small role in the Jim Henson movie The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and remained professionally linked with Henson, serving as director of choreography on the film Labyrinth (1986). She has also appeared in the films, Hunt for Red October (1990), Taking Care of Business (1990) and Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985).